Expedia shares down after revenue fall short

MariaArmental

Online travel company Expedia Inc. on Thursday said it was considering taking Trivago public.

The disclosure came as the company reported second-quarter results that missed analysts' projections, sending shares down 4% in after-hours trading to $114.

Expedia bought a majority stake in German startup Trivago in 2012. Trivago, which in the most recent period reported a 42% increase in revenue to $201 million, focuses on metasearch, allowing consumers to quickly compare rates and availability across booking sites.

Launched in 1996 by a small division of Microsoft Corp., Expedia went public in 1999. Billionaire Barry Diller, who's served as chairman and senior executive since the company's 2005 spinoff from his media conglomerate IAC/InterActiveCorp., retains voting control through a proxy agreement with John Malone's Liberty Interactive Corp. In March, Mr. Malone's company filed to spin off its position in Expedia, paving the way for Expedia to buy the stake.

Over all, Expedia reported a profit of $31.6 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with $449.6 million, or $3.38 a share, a year earlier. Excluding stock-based compensation and other items, profit was 83 cents a share, down from 89 cents a year earlier.

The year-ago results had been even bolstered by the sale of its equity stake in eLong Inc.

Revenue rose to $2.2 billion, with HomeAway adding $172 million.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected 78 cents a share in adjusted profit on $2.25 billion in revenue.

Gross bookings rose 25%, driven by room rentals even as the company made less money on average from each rental. The amount of money Expedia makes from each room rental is expected to continue to fall on a year-over-year basis for the rest of the year.

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